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No no … neither I am not referring to the legal age in India nor its my age 🙂

Today. I completed my first half marathon i.e. 21 kms (13 miles). The madness in me of running and to stay fit which started this Jan 2017, I managed to complete my first half marathon with ease.

The strong determination of mine to go for regular practice, getting up as early as 4.45 am everyday helped me to cross the finishing line comfortably. Also thanks to my co-runner and my inspirational lady Kamakshi Soni without whom I would not have dared to run today’s half marathon. She is truly an inspiring person. I really cherish the early morning runs which we do on roads and the long runs on weekends which has brought a complete change in my lifestyle. And we proudly say that we are Mumbai Road Runners 🙂

Well, till yesterday the anxiety in me was clearly visible on my face. Will I be able to complete the half marathon with ease and that too injury free were my main concerns. But today morning when I got up and geared up with the race t-shirt along with the BIB, the confidence level inside me started rising up and more over I had my co-partners running with me too. We reached the venue well on time, did the warm ups and was all set to roll out 🙂

The atmosphere was electrifying (well this was not my first marathon, I earlier have run for 5 marathons of 10 kms) and we started running under moonlight (shining bright white). So the journey of 21 km started. I was off with steady pace with local crowd including school students cheering us all the way to the finishing line. The climate was humid (not as expected) but this did not dampen our spirits.

I had been thinking to participate in marathons from last 2-3 years but due to some reasons I had to back off. But this time I was very firm and nothing would have stopped me.

Be it a friend, life partner, colleague, associate or even your boss (well if you have a choice to do so 🙂 ), you have to be careful whom you are choosing and for what purpose in your life.

One can find many besties in life but it’s important who stays with you till the end. At some point of time I am sure everyone must have come across a situation or situations wherein you have been betrayed by the person whom you trusted the most. It was this person for whom you can swear to be the most faithful person in your life. This was the person whom you had placed all your trust in him/her whom you thought is the best of the best in your life.

And all of a sudden, one day you come to know that this most trustworthy person has stopped responding to you with some reason known only to him/her. This is the person who now starts talking ill about you to others. And you get into depression mode, the worst phase in life. You now only see the past and reminisce about what all you did for that person. You start blaming yourself for the terrible mistake you did of trusting that person, to open up yourself and most importantly keeping faith on him/her. And you make a wow to yourself that you will never again get close to anyone.

In simple words one cannot buy an “insurance” for any relationship. There are no safety nets in it. Only precautionary steps which one can take.

The core point in any relationship is a 2 way handshake. If you are simply chasing the other person and that other person does not have time for you then you need to put an end to this relationship. If you think you are being “used” by that person then it’s time for you to give some space to this relationship till that person gets the message. If you really do matter or if your relationship does make a difference to the opposite person then he/she will notice the distance from your side and will try to reconnect. However, if that does not happen it’s a clear message that maybe the relationship and closeness was not what you thought or expected it to be.

Cutting-off from that person may be easier said than done, however in the long run it will be all for the best and you will soon be a free bird with many more cheerful people around you which will bring a smile back on your face. I personally feel it’s better to be alone than to have such people in life and most importantly start loving your own company.

PS. It was after a long discussion I had with one of my office colleague which made me pen down the above post.

This post is little different from my other posts till now. Well, I have started to like jogging and from last few months I have been regularly practicing and taking part in Marathons of 10 kms. Thanks to one of my ex-colleague as thru him I made new friends and a new group of runners whom I adore and am happy to have them as part of my life. My aim to jogging is to stay fit and healthy. I am posting few thoughts of theirs.

Manish Rambhia (MR) – I call him “Gurudev” (Teacher) as he is the person who helps with all different types of stretching exercises in our practice sessions and constantly thinking of innovative ways to enjoy exercising. He is the person who pulls me to long distances with his constant motivational words. The day he is takes a break for the practice session that day no one turns up 🙂 .

Me : Which time do you prefer to jog and any reason for it ?
MR: I prefer early morning time (mostly before Sunrise) to jog as the atmosphere during that time is awesome with fresh healthy (less polluted) air.

Me: Which route do you prefer and why ?
MR: I prefer going to back road from Infinity end to Hyper city end (this is in Malad West, Mumbai). This route is idle track for runners. Less number of vehicles around and many other co runners to boost up energy.

Me: What made you get into jogging
MR: I love participating in many sports which include athletics. I was keen to improve my running capability. I participated in SCMM – Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon in 2010 without a single day practice. After completion of the race it was too painful for me, which made me start jogging on regular basis thereby improvising my running capabilities.

Me: Tips for the readers
MR: Atleast try one day to wake up early in the morning and go for walk. You will find that day different from all other days being full of energy. I always say “If you think fitness is costlier, than try illness”.

Kamakshi Soni (KS) – A long distance runner (time plus kilometers) and a part of Pinkathon group. She is my inspiration personality. I always admire her runs and her love for jogging. Nothing can hold her back from jogging on her schedule days and the goals she sets for herself are always above the sky. I always feel privilege to run along with her. Recently she has been writing articles too and one of them is as below publishing with her permission :-

KS: Just sitting had a thought on this today…. how Pinkathon and running has changed my life:-

Shopping — women is fascinated about wearing trendy dresses, kurtis, tops but when I go to malls; I look around for sportswear now.

Fashion accessories — girls always beautified themselves with wearing long earrings, bangles, Bindis but I look around for running accessories which makes my run comfortable.

Footwear — all those heels and occasional wear are way behind and I look around for sport shoes for my feet.

Chats and gossips — all my talks (gossips) have now turned into kilometers, distances, events and pace timings.

Calendar schedules — earlier I use to make plans for upcoming festivals… I now look around for Marathon events with their dates to mark it in my calendar.

Friends — almost 70% of my FB feeds are from running community–my friends list have changed and now have more running groups on Whatsapp.

Sharing tagging — instead of uploading selfie pics like a model … I now share and upload my running activity pics to all.

Make up and looks — looking at the mirror earlier was to make myself look beautiful but now I look upon myself to be more fit and instead of buying lipsticks and pan cakes; I now buy Enerzals and bananas.

Apps — downloading stupid apps of pic collage or editor or games … I now download Runkeeper

Milind Soman:- My motivational celebrity whom I always use to see him as a Model /Actor has now changed to “RUNNER’S GOD ULTRAMAN IRONMAN”

Zubin Shah (ZS) – People have partner in crime but i have partner in run during our practice sessions as well as in Marathon races. Zubin is always a sports loving person and we both are school friends. He is a champ in badminton and also plays football on weekends. Junk food is not a part of Zubin’s diet and he is more inclined for healthy intakes.

Me: Which time do you prefer to jog and any reason for it ?
ZS: I would generally prefer the early morning hours for running/any physical exercise, as you can adhere to the same time every single day before one gets busy with hassle bustle of the workload.

Me: Which route do you prefer and why ?
ZS: I prefer running on the beach as it strains less on your knees, increase your stamina multi-folds and gives you the feeling of vastness/openness to your mind & thoughts.

Me: What made you get into jogging.
ZS: I use to love sports from the very beginning, right from my childhood days. But over a period of time and aging factor I started facing injuries related to sports activities. That is when I took up jogging.. it gives you the same energy boost, stamina, endurance, etc, but at the same time less taxing on your joints.

Me: Tips for the readers
ZS: Try out different physical activities which can help you recover from your injuries but at the same time keeps you physically fit & active and jogging is one of such activity.

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Thanks to all the above people plus all my group members with whom I enjoy my practice sessions plus all the Marathons we had till now. Looking forward for more in future.

Not a new term for all of us. After introduction of Social Media the “Blocked” term has become a popular jargon in internet world. You think blocking is a sign of maturity? I think it is the opposite.

Many reasons to block someone or get blocked :-

Some unknown person troubling you on social media then Block him/her.

You are getting irritated by someone (known or unknown) then you can Block that person.

You want to avoid anyone then use the facility of blocking that number.

It’s a trend to block people within the new generation. Does blocking a known person help you to stop thinking of that individual? Well, if your answer is Yes, then I fail to understand how can you remove that person from your mind or heart. Because even if you block him/her from your chats, your email, your Facebook and so on, he/she isn’t gone until you lock him/her out of your head. Unless it’s a case of some unknown stranger who is not ready to reveal his/her identity and troubling you then I buy the point of blocking that stranger.

My feeling is that we don’t value people when they are around and tend to take them for granted expecting them to be around / alive forever. We only realise the value of a person when we lose them permanently or to someone else and then we are left to live with emptiness and regret for the rest of our lives.

Blocking people is just a temporary phase in our lives. My advice is to talk it out and get things sorted before rather than taking such a step which we may regret later. As the saying goes “Time and tide wait for no man”, don’t take people or things for granted. Value the present and make the most out of it. God knows what tomorrow might bring. It takes a long time to build a relationship but not even a minute to break it. Learn the value of people before blocking them for whatever reason.

I am not the type of person who will block anyone, but for many others I am a person to be stationed in their “Blocked” list. Many a times I wonder for what reason I am getting the privilege to enjoy this temporary disconnection phase . Anyways I do enjoy it till it lasts .

It’s Friday evening and the crowd is bustling around me. I wonder why only on weekends I happen to see so many people active. Is it that people only get time or rather can remove time on weekends? Why is it that everyone remembers to take care of themselves only on specific days of the week?

Now-a-days I have got another madness running inside me. To stay fit. I mean really to stay FIT. To achieve my goal I have started taking part in Marathons. Well I only have ran 2 mini marathons (10 kms) till now and few more are in the pipeline.

So almost daily or whenever time permits I go for a jog at Poinsur Gymkhana (a gymkhana club nearby my house). The walking/jogging trek is of 750 meters per round and it’s a wonderful time to enjoy my sessions along with so many adventurous things happening around me.

Well, the person I am I can never stop thinking. During my round-up sessions I observe and wonder about so many things that I have virtually categorized people as per below …

Weekenders – Except Fridays and Saturdays the run way to fly is almost empty (I feel like I m flying along with the wind when I jog). Why so? I still have not got an answer or understood the logic.

Heaviers – There will always be those fat people who are trying their best to shed few grams from their over sized body by going merry-go-round the jogging track and as soon as they are out of the club these are the ones who will immediately either have juice or something to eat as they feel they have lost a lot of weight.

Gossipers – There are kids playing in the garden area, swinging, sliding, running, shouting, throwing sand on other kids while their respective moms are enjoying gossiping at one corner.

Romancers – One can see young people too, but they have a different agenda to come for a walk. If they are a couple walking in their own world then no need of any explanation. A perfect place to walk and talk.

Discussers – If I see 2 girls walking together then I am sure this is the place to discuss things for their respective boyfriends.

Fashion goers – Talking about the girls, I don’t understand how girls can put on make-up, wear high heels and come for a walk. Somebody needs to remind them that this is a not a ramp for a fashion show.

The fixed timmers – This category are specially the girls who come for a walk with a mobile in one hand, a hands-free round the neck and talking to someone (no need to guess). The walking continues till their phone calls last. As soon as the call completes they step out of the club. They have a fixed time to talk along with walk in the evenings.

The-just-in-lovers – Well as the name says, these are the people be it male or female, they try to find different places to meet up with their loved ones be it after office hours (with the laptop back still hanging on the shoulders). Not regulars but periodically they mark their presence.

And finally not to forget people like me who have got a goal in mind and have no fixed time, no fixed days, be it morning or evening, only one thing on the mind “Just do it”

I miss the good old days when I would blog at the drop of a hat. I needed no motivation to write and the words use to flow off my key board at ease. There was always a push from within myself to write something or the other and I used to immediately do it. Well, it’s not that the words have stopped flowing when I write now, but I feel I need to be more active on this space. Time is the main issue. Now a days I am added up with lots of responsibilities (professionally as well as personally) which hardly leaves me anytime to express myself. I feel happy writing and still there are loads of things that have gathered up in my head which are just waiting to come out and get settled in this space.

The past year 2016 was a mixed year for me. Let me first share with you the best part of it. I had been to Chicago in the month of Dec’16. It was to attend the wedding of my brother-in-law as well as holidays for me and my family. Thanks to my brother-in-law who threw an opportunity and I was quick to grab it . Visiting the US with my family was on my pending list from last many years and I am happy that I could fulfill it. Now, my daughter has already decided that she wants to permanently shift to Chicago and she is after me to get this done (like father like daughter ). We had an awesome trip and did enjoy the snowfall, chill weather, the temperature which was most of the time in negative and once had dipped to -8 Celsius with lots of wind and all the Christmas fever (lightings and offers) all around us. To add to the icing on the cake we had a mini vacation and good farewell to the last year with lots of “masti” with my school friends @ Panchgini, India.

Secondly, last year almost 5 months back my seniors at work gave me a promotion and topped me up with additional responsibilities. This was a surprise move for me. My hard work and dedication towards my profession helped me. This is one of the reason I hardly get time to visit here and have lost contact with blogging. Well, one cannot get anything easily and I am still struggling to get it officially endorsed.

Ok, now about few unwanted memories /moments which I need to leave behind in 2016. Will not talk much about this as they have to be flushed out. This includes parting ways from a few friends due to some misunderstandings.

I many a times think whether a blogger really needs a push from the readers to write more? Or is it about writing irrespective whether your post is read or not. It’s a difficult question to answer like which came first the egg or the hen?

Anyways, I enjoy expressing myself without caring whether my posts are being read or not. And hoping 2017 will be a great year for all of us.

Two strangers facing each other, our eyes meet, mine to that of the opposite person and the opposite person’s to mine. We exchanged smiles, mine been more wider as I felt so, maybe the opposite person’s smile was wider than mine, I am not sure. We looked at each other’s hand, initially that person glanced at my hands and then noticing that the eyes were looking at my hands I did the same, in complete syncronisation with each other. We both stared at each other almost for a minute trying to adjust our eye’s pupil to get a proper glance of the object in our hand.

No no … this is not what you are thinking. This happened yesterday evening while I was traveling back home in the train. We both boarded the same train, the same coach and from the same station. Once I got in we were facing exactly opposite each other (well, people traveling in Mumbai local trains will understand it much better 🙂 ).

Well, it was the book we both were holding to read during the journey towards home. And I know you will be disappointed to read that the opposite person was not female too. We both were holding the same book to read. I normally have a habit to read during my train journey and once I hop into the train I immediately remove the book from my bag to read.

We both were reading the same book and hence all these exchanges of eye contact and smiles . I have seen many people reading books while traveling but hardly I have found anyone reading the same book as mine. Couple of times it has happened that people have asked me about the author and the book I was reading at that time but never have I had an experience like yesterday.

Another few minutes of scanning each other we both got engrossed into our reading but the curious person I am, I did not allow myself to settle calmly. I wanted to pinch him hard and say same pinch but I avoided it . I took the initiative to ask him his opinion about the author and then it all started from how to when to where to who and lots more. Infact the full 50 minutes of our traveling journey we were chatting on all the topics we can think of; books to politics to demonetization to our profession.

Well, it’s the power of the book and the reading habit which helps to friend a stranger no matter which part of the world you are in.